WEST SHORE.
Early this year the Pacific Coast Elevator Compa
ny was incorporated, and immediately preparations
were made for the erection of a system of elevators in
the Columbia basin. During the season there were
built, at various points on the line of the Oregon Rail
way it Navigation Company in Oregon, Washington
and Idaho, thenty-five grain elevators, each having a
storage capacity of from 40,000 to 75,(XK) bushels.
These all act as feeders for the big elevator in Portland,
or, rather, on the opposite side of the river at Albina,
w hich has a capacity for Btoring 1,000,0(K) bushels and
is the largest establishment of the kind west of Minne
apolis. The first vessel loaded at that elevator last
week.
This terminal elevator in Albina, illustrations of
which appear in this issue of the West Siioiik, is a
thoroughly modern structure, equipped as well as the
bent in the world. It is 315 feet long, sixty-eight feet
wide and 150 feet high. On either sido under the cu-
HAOUINO AND HIlll'I'INU (MAIN,
pola are Bixty-five deep bins in which grain is stored.
In the top of the cuHla a five-inch shaft runs the
whole length of the building, and on it are sixteen
large gear wheels, any one or all of which may Ik run
at any tinio to move grain through the various connec
tions. Power is communicated to the main shaft from
a MMiorse power engine by means of a rubW Mi
thirty inches wide and 325 feet long. In the engine
room is a dynamo capable of running '2X eighteen
'audio ineandescent lights, by which the building is
lighted. There is also a Worthington fire pump, with
river connections, with a capacity for throwing half a
million gallons a day. Tanks in various Mrtions of
the institution, and a large reservoir outside, also fur
nish fire protection.
(rain is received by rail inside the building, let
from eight cars at a time into hoppers, from which it
is elevated by means of cup belts (shown in the cut)
in the boot leg (the top of which is illustrated) to the
top of the house, weighed, spouted down to the first
floor, where it is cleaned and properly graded, and
then hoisted and dumped into the proper storage bins.
To this Hiint the grain is handled entirely in bulk,
except as the farmer may deliver it to the line elevator
in sacks, which ho there empties. Hut the same diffi
culties in the way of foreign shipments in bulk that
have always existed and will continue until ships
cross the isthmus at Nicaragua are still present, and
grain must l bagged loforo vessels can carry it safely.
It is difficult to so load a ship that a bulk cargo can
not shift in rough weather. From the storage bins
in the elevator, the grain descends in shiu(s and is
easily and rapidly bagged and sent down the slide to
tho vessel's hold. I,ooso grain is run in directly through
the marino leg to fill tho spaces lietween the bags piled
in the ship. This method of handling is a great deal
more rapid than the old one, and it also saves wear
and tear of bagging. Hugging ami shipping may Ih
done at the same time grain is being received and
cleaned, so there need 1st no cessation in either process
for tho other.
This is the only terminal elevator on the Pacific
coast worthy the name. There are numerous ware
houses on the sound and in California, and steps are
being taken for supplying the need for conveniences of
this sort that will give the sound prH-r shipping fa
cilities very soon, Preparations are already Mug
made for the erection of a duplicate of the Portland
elevator on the same dock, so strong are the evidences
of increase thus early apparent. It may be two or
three years licfore the new structure is built, however,
for the handling capacity of the present one is enor
mous. The gold brick disease broke out in Port Townsend
last week and but for tho accidental Interference of the
police would have added another victim to its long
list. When a man's selfishness and cupidity so far de
throne his reason that he thinks ho can buy I,XX) in
gold for 1500, it is a pity that ho is not permitted to
realize what a Ul ho is by actually paying tho money
and getting his brass brick for a erpetual Instructor
in the fundamental principles of 'iiso.
Business seems to 1st looking up in the internal rev
enue department, tho receipts for the past year exceed
ing those of tho previous one by fi.lXXI.INXt. It Is ulsmt
time I'nclo Ham went out of tho lbUor business the
same as be did the cigar business, Tho govern
ment does not need tho money and tho tax cannot lw
considered a restriction in the sense that a high license
law is. Abolishment of the Internal revenue laws
would rid us of a set of useless officials ami stop tho
inhuman work of man hunting by serial deputies.